Trapped for the Holidays
by theKyra
Summary: When a blizzard traps Zim in the same house as Dib and Gaz, he's forced to stay with them for several days... and with no power. Chaotic days are ahead this holiday season! Rated T for romance, swears, and things like that. ON HIATUS FOR A LONG TIME.
1. The Blizzard and the Usual Fighting

Zim slumped on his desk, his head resting on one arm as he stared off into space. His wig was messy and somewhat lopsided, though it was unlikely that anyone but Dib would notice. He was startled out of his stupor as the teacher, Mr. Angorz, yelled, "ZIM!"

"Uh, what... yes?" Zim responded, hastily trying to figure out what Angorz wanted.

"I_asked_, what is the answer to number 42?"

As if reciting from memory (which he probably was), he said dully, "Five ounces of water."

"_Thank_ you, Zim. Class, your homework for the holidays is-"

The bell rang just then, cutting off the teacher, and the general mass of kids snatched up their books and piled out. Zim, having no books to carry, waited at the door while Dib attempted to gather up his enormous pile of books. "Hey, Dib, that pile is _almost_ as big as your gigantic head," he taunted, smirking.

By the time that the human had finally stumbled over, Zim had gotten bored of mocking him. Instead, as they headed for the hi-skool cafeteria, Zim suddenly grabbed several textbooks and notebooks off the top of Dib's load and asked sarcastically, "Need some help with those?" A moment later, he chucked them at Dib, moving on ahead to merge with the general crowd of kids.

Dib scowled, readjusting his books and continuing to the lunchroom to get rid of them. He dropped them in his usual seat next to Gaz and got in the back of the lunch line, scowling at Zim, who was just getting out.

Zim strided over to the same lunch table that Dib had left his junk at and sat down across from Gaz. When he had first sat with them, a year ago, he'd said it was because humans had invaded his table and that theirs was the only one anywhere close to empty. But, as time passed, Zim had begun to strike up a friendship with Gaz and his and Dib's hatred started to lessen... slightly.

Gaz was munching on some chips that she'd brought while she played her new Game Slave Lite, which she had forced Dib to buy several months previously. Spotting the pizza that the green-skinned kid was looking wearily at, she snatched it up and took a bite. She smirked, and once she'd finished chewing, sneered, "Tough luck, Zim."

He shrugged, ignoring her, instead watching Dib finally get out of the lunch line.

The dark-haired teen scowled as he set his lunch down and put his books on the floor. Before Zim could say anything, he growled, "Don't bug me, Zim. Today's not a good day."

Zim smirked. "Poor Dibby."

Gaz snorted with amusement. "Dibby... I'll remember that for when I destroy you."

* * *

As a snowball with a core of ice whammed into the back of his head, Dib pitched forward and fell onto the ground, recieving a faceful of snow. He climbed back up, ignoring the bite of the cold, and simply continued on home, wrapping his trenchcoat tighter around himself.

Zim laughed loudly and mocking called, "Are you _cold_, Dib?" As he walked, Zim bent over and scooped up a chunk of ice and snow. Aiming at Dib's head again, he chucked it.

He continued to do it again repeatedly, until Gaz knocked him flat with a ball of pure ice. She grinned darkly at him, dodging the snowball he threw in return. Caught up in the moment, the battling dup hardly noticed when Dib disappeared from sight into his and Gaz's house.

After a good fifteen minutes or so, they were both coated in snow and bruises from falling or ice balls. And snow was beginning to fall. Quite a lot of it, and it was pretty thick.

Gaz was the first to notice, crossing her arms tightly across her chest to conserve heat. She gazed at Zim, who seemed wary of the falling snow, and asked, "D'you want to hang out at my place until this blows over?"

Shivering slightly, he nodded, and the two made a dash for Gaz's house.

As they slammed open the door, the first thing Gaz noticed was the distinctive smell of her mom's old recipe for hot chocolate, while the first thing Zim noticed was Dib hanging ornaments on a small pine tree in the corner of the room.

Gaz slung her backpack at the chair to her right and threw her snow-covered coat on top before heading immediately for the kitchen. Zim slammed the door behind him, taking off his thin gray jacket, and hissed, "Dib."

The teen didn't bother to turn as he replied, "Who did you expect to see in my house?"

Zim scowled, as Gaz called from the kitchen, "Zim, get your ass in here." Even he, one of the biggest idiots in town, knew to obey rather than risk Gaz's wrath.

He walked over and demanded, "What?"

"Stop messing with Dib, or you're going to find yourself trapped underwater," she growled with a smirk, clasping her mug of hot cocoa in her cold hands.

He rolled his eyes, and followed Gaz back into the TV room and onto the couch. She continued to hold her mug, occasionally sipping from it, while Zim sat next to her. Well, not _quite_ next to her.

"You know, Gaz, you're going to have to tell Dad _why_ you brought an alien home," Dib said suddenly.

She stuck out her tongue at him, ignoring his statement.

Zim shot her a curious glance, but she waved him off by ordering, "Turn on the TV- doesn't matter what."

He obeyed, taking the remote and jabbing the red power button. After living on Earth for four years, Zim had picked up most of the basic skills and knowledge that he needed to maintain his disguise (i.e. working a TV), though he'd stopped actively trying to conquer the planet over a year ago. As such, Dib didn't obsessively stalk him quite as much, and to the casual observer, the two were friends... despite their almost constant bickering and small-scale fights. And then there was his blooming relationship with Gaz, of course.

The TV flashed on, showing a newscaster with a red Santa hat, who was clearly excited that it was almost the holidays. "Christmas shopper levels have been at their highest this week in over a century," he said cheerfully, "and it seems as if no one is letting the cold weather stop them. Speaking of the weather, here's Fred with the semi-hourly weather report." As the screen switched to a red-haired man, also with a Santa hat, Gaz leaned back into the couch, closing her eyes quietly.

"If you could have anything for Christmas, Zim, what would it be?" she asked abruptly, kicking off her boots and resting her feet on the coffee table.

"Anything...," he mused, actually thinking for once. "I'd have to say that I would want to be Tallest, even if only for a day."

Dib snorted, nearly dropping an ornament. "You're just barely five feet tall, Zim- you're still a shrimp compared to humans, let alone your leaders!"

He scowled. "Fuck off, Dib."

Gaz, ignoring them, as usual, murmured, "I'd like to have Dad actually come home for once and just spend time with us instead of working.

Meanwhile, Zim and Dib continued to argue. "I'm _still_ taller than you, Zim. Even I have a better chance of becoming Tallest than you do."

"You're not a _superior_ Irken, like myself, and therefore you aren't allowed to be our ruler, no matter how tall you may be."

"Not like I'd _want_ to be your ruler."

"And the same to you, Di-"

Gaz cut him off with an angry snarl, "Shut up, you morons, or face your worst nightmares."

They shut up, Dib returning his attention back to the tree, and Zim turning his back to Gaz.

At that moment, the door opened, to reveal a tall man with a dark brown coat wrapped over a long white lab coat. Gaz's eyes brightened slightly, as she gazed over the back of the couch.

Zim glanced back at Membrane, and quickly decided to turn back to the TV, and turned it off.

Professor Membrane took off his coat and draped it over the back of the chair, saying as he did so, "How's the tree coming along, son?"

"Almost done," Dib replied simply.

"Good, good." If his face was visible, it may have been possible to discern whether or not he'd smiled, but since it wasn't, that was one more mystery to add to the list. He walked over towards the couch, and Gaz moved over, bumping into Zim in the process. She blushed ever so faintly, while Membrane sat down. "New friend?" he asked.

From behind the tree, Dib smirked. "Hasn't been new for about five months now," he muttered.

Gaz nodded briskly. "Dad, this is Zim. He's the foreign studen that Dib's so obsessed with."

"Alien," Dib growled under his breath.

Offering a hand, Membrane said, "I believe we've met?"

Zim glared at the hand, then at the scientist as he briefly nodded. "Yes."

Under his irritated glare, Membrane withdrew his hand quickly. "So.. staying for the holidays, I presume?"

Zim's haughty expression change to that of disgust. "Staying? Why would I do that?" he sneered.

Surprise etched itself on the scientist's face. "Why, haven't you seen the weather?"

"No," Zim and Gaz responded in unison.

"The entire state is being buried by a huge blizzard, and the streets are nearly impassable," explained Professor Membrane.

"Then how'd you get here?" retorted Zim.

"I got here just as it was getting worse."

"Crap," Zim muttered to himself. "GIR's alone..."

Gaz scowled. "You left that.. thing _alone_?"

"Yup."

As if on cue, the sound of metal hitting glass echoed from upstairs. "GIR," Zim mumbled, standing. "I'll go and look." The green-skinned male headed over to the hallway and dashed up the stairs, directing himself towards the sound. Surprisingly enough, GIR had chosen Dib's room. Zim entered and fumbled with the lock on the window before opening it. A blast of snow and freezing air smacked him in the face, along with a certain green dog. Zim slammed it shut again and locked it before trying to pry GIR off his head. "Get off, GIR," he snarled, finally yanking the insane robot off.

"MASTAH! I'm so happeeeee to see you again!" GIR squealed happily. "It was sooo lonely 'cuz you weren't home!"

"That's great, GIR. Now go downstairs and say hi to Dib," Zim responded, distracted by a strange marking on a drawer in the desk. While the robot trotted out obediently, the disguised alien walked over and opened the drawer. Inside was merely several photographs, a yellowed piece of paper, and a child's drawing. He pulled out the photos, gazing curiously at the lovely earth-worm woman featured in them. Hearing footsteps, Zim crammed the photos back in and shoved the drawer closed, just as Dib appeared in the doorway, arms crossed.

"Get out of my room, alien."

"What's with the photos, Dib? Your elusive girlfriend, perhaps?"

"That's NOT my girlfriend!" the human teen snarled angrily, taking a step towards Zim.

"Then, who is it?"

Dib's expression turned to that of depressed unhappiness. "It's my mother," he said softly. "She died when Gaz was born."

Zim snorted arrogantly. "Dumb way to die." At Dib's absolutely furious expression, which was pretty spooky, he raised his hands in sarcastic defeat. "If I'm going to have to stay here over the holidays, you're _going_ to leave me alone," he sneered as he passed into the hallway.

"And you stay out of my room!" Dib yelled at the alien's retreating back.

* * *

"Mastah, why's Dib so unhappy?"

Busy helping Gaz take inventory of what food they have to last out being stranded, Zim waved the robot away. "I don't know- go ask him yourself."

"Okee!"

While the little robot trotted away, Zim returned to scribbling down the names of various foods as Gaz read them off containers. It certainly didn't take long for the pair to complete their task, a tribute to the fact that the house hardly had any food in it.

As they searhed the kitchen for anything they missed, Membrane entered. "How are we doing in the way of food, daughter?"

"Does 'not much' help?" Gaz snarled, closing the cupboard she had been searching and turning around to face her father. "What do we have, Zim?"

He rolled his eyes. "One and a half boxes of cereal, four cans of ravioli, one gallon of milk, half of a juice container, a leftover pizza, several apples and oranges, some watermelon slices... stuff for hot chocolate, marshmallows, several boxes of macaroni and cheese.. oh, and some potato chips," Zim recited, reading off his small list.

"In other wors,we have maybe three days' worth of food for four people..." at Zim's glare, she corrected, "for three people."

Membrane gazed at them curiously. "But there are four people and a dog to feed."

"Zim doesn't eat much... he's, ah.. on a diet," Gaz invented, trying to come up with a plausible reason for the alien's high dislike of human food.

As always, at a bad time, GIR burst in. "Mastah, can I make waffles?" he pleaded, looking hopefully at Zim.

Membrane curiously looked at the robot, disguised as a green dog, as usual. "You taught it to talk _and_ cook?"

"I wouldn't eat anything he cooks," Zim muttered, having been horribly reminded of an incidence several years ago that involved waffles with soap in them. Aloud, he responded, "No, GIR, no waffles. Go pester Dib some more instead."

"Okay!" The robot grinned happily and trotted off.

Both Gaz and Zim rolled their eyes, as Membrane watched them with an odd expression.

* * *

As the evening passed, the snow continued falling, and the house gradually began to get colder. 

Of course, it was then, at eight pm, that the power decided to go out, taking the heat with it. Eevryone present-except GIR-shivered in the total darkness, while Dib's arm traveled along the fireplace mantle until he found a box of matcfhes. Lighting one, he lit a nearby candle, bathing the room in a very dim light.

GIR's doggy suit unzipped at the top as he pulled out a flashlight, handing it to Zim.

"Dad, I thought he had a generator," Dib said irritably, as he began trying to light a fire in the fireplace.

"We do," Membrane replied, "but it's probably frozen. I doubt that we'll get power back for a day or two, at the least."

Gaz groaned, moving closer to Zim on the couch. "We'll freeze," she snarled, shivering.

"Go get some sweaters and blankets, then, and we'll freeze together," Membrane replied, chuckling.

She muttered something inaudibly and grabbed a fistful of Zim's uniform, dragging him along behind her as she went up the stairs. Zim had long since switched on his flashlight, and meekly pointed it around Gaz as he followed her to her bedroom.

"Stay in the doorway," she growled, while stalking over to a tall chest, opening the drawer below the top. She pulled out several dark-colored sweaters before slamming it shut and snatching up a pile of blankets from the foot of her bed. Gaz returned to the doorway, thrusting the clothing and blankets into Zim's arms. "Carry," she ordered briskly, walking around him and across the hall into Dib's room. She opened the chest's top drawer first, and pulled out a small knife with disgust. "Dib, you moron," she snarled, pocketing it before opening the next drawer. She pulled out several more sweaters and slammed _that_ closed as well. Dropping Dib's sweaters into Zim's already full arms, she took the flashlight and led the way back downstairs. Gaz snatched up Dib's sweaters and threw them at him before grabbing one of her own, pulling it on.

Meanwhile, Zim dropped the pile on the floor beside GIR, who was giggling as he played with a squeaky moose. The green-skinned male sat back down on the couch, shivering slightly.

Gaz grabbed a blanket, wrapping it around herself before throwing a sweater at Zim. "Put it on, moron, or you'll freeze into an icicle."

He shrugged, doing as she said, and watching as she sat down, snuggling close to him. For a moment, they all sat in silence, until Dib finally succeeded in lighting a fire.

Gaz pulled the knife out of her pocket, remembering it, and handed it to her father, who sat on the other end of the couch. "Oh, Dad, this was in Dib's dresser," she said nonchalantly, smirking at her brother.

Membrane took it, looking at the knife for several moments in disbelief. "Dib, explain yourself," he said at last.

The teen glared at Gaz and protested, "I didn't use it!"

But the professor merely shook his head sadly. "My poor, insane son," he murmured.

* * *

**A/N:: gasp Dib's being all NOT-CHEERY! The next chapter... who knows when that will come? This was thirteen pages, and it took me a week to write, so perhaps the next chapter will be up by the weekend... or at least written by then. Of course, now my fingers hurt from typing, lol, so I'll work on Final Battle tomorrow... I promise. **


	2. Snowed In

When Gaz awoke, she first noticed that she was laying almost on top of Zim. As she laid there, quite comfortable, listening to the soft sound of the Irken sleeping, memories of the previous night came back. Dib and her father sleeping on the floor, Dib in a sleeping bad and Membrane on an air mattress. Herself and Zim sleeping on the couch together- she blushed at the thought- and GIR eventually deciding to sleep in front of the fire to keep it going. Amazingly, the little bot had done a good job- the fire was still going, and the house hadn't burned down. A faint light from outside dimly lit the house, and Gaz could see fairly well, despite the fact that the power was still out. She tapped a button on her watch, checking the time. Nine in the morning... great. And everyone was still asleep. "Lazy bums," she murmured, moving so that she was on her side.

Just then, she heard a pained groan from under the coffee table. "Agh... my head," Dib muttered, rolling over and sitting up. "Note to self- don't sleep near the table."

Gaz snorted with contempt, smirking at her brother. "Why don't you sleep in your own bed, then?" she retorted nastily.

"Oh yes, very funny, Gaz," he replied sarcastically. "I should go sleep in my bed when it's as cold up there as it is outside."

She smirked again. "Works fine for me." Sitting up on the edge of the couch, Gaz looked around. "Where the hell did I put my GameSlave?" she muttered, standing and striding over to where she'd tossed her backpack the previous day. Gaz kneeled down and began searching through, before pulling out her GS Lite. Returning to the couch, Gaz sat down and began playing, viciously killing demon piggies.

Dib rolled his eyes at the sound of piggies being killed, one after the other, while he grabbed his glasses off the coffee table and put them on. While she played, he decided to find something for breakfast. Grabbing the flashlight that Zim had left on the table, Dib flicked it on and headed into the kitchen. Before falling asleep, he and his father had come up with a food plan, to conserve what they had, and it was currently lying on the middle of the kitchen table.

He walked over and glanced at it, scowling. Only one bowl of cereal and a glass of milk per person each morning. He was going to STARVE at this rate- he was used to having several bowls of cereal when he wasn't at risk for missing the bus. If he was- well, he always had that emergency stash in his locker...

The teen dug through the cupboard, pulled out a bowl and spoon, and set them down on the counter. He looked around for a box of cereal and quickly poured it into a bowl- for fear that Gaz would pop up and take the cereal, as she did so often (and had been doing ever since she could pour her own cereal). He also poured himself a glass of milk from the fridge- having the house so cold, they could probably leave everything out of the fridge without anything spoiling- and returned to the main room. Sitting down on top of his sleeping bad, Dib started eating.

It didn't take long for both Zim and the Professor to wake up, and as soon as Dib noticed that the former had awoken, he immediately sneered, "I thought you said that Irkens don't _need_ sleep."

The green-skinned male shrugged, slowly sitting up. "I didn't say that we _can't_ sleep, Dib-worm."

The teen blinked, and sullenly returned to reading his paranormal magazine, while Zim smirked.

"Victory for Zim," he proclaimed- somewhat quietly.

Gaz glared at him, glancing up from her GS Lite for only a moment as she continued playing. "If you cretins make me lose this boss battle, there will be hell to pay," she threatened.

Dib hardly paid any attention, while Professor Membrane rolled over and yawned. Even sleeping, Membrane wore his lab coat and goggles, which Dib had previously pointed out was weird, before the Professor added that they were all sleeping in their clothes.

"Children, don't fight," he said as he sat up. "Not on the day before Christmas."

Dib glanced over at his father anxiously. "If we don't get power back, we'll be icicles before Christmas even gets here," he remarked.

"Son, that won't happen," Membrane responded. "Even if I can't do much to help the world at the moment, we'll have a fine Christmas."

"Yeah right," Dib muttered sullenly before returning to his magazine.

While Membrane went to eat breakfast in the kitchen, Gaz continued to murder the vampire piggies, Zim alternated between insulting Dib and yelling at GIR, and Dib skimmed through the pages of his magazine, occasionally muttering something inaudible.

GIR, since the others had all woken up, had stopped monitoring the fire and was now playing with a taco.

"Exactly _how many_ of those does he have in that head of his?" Gaz asked, without looking up from her GameSlave.

Zim raised a nonexistant eyebrow and glanced at the green dog. "GIR, where did you get the taco?"

The dog looked up. "I gotsa lots of tacos!" he squealed, grinning. "Do yooooou have any tacquitos?"

"No, GIR. No tacquitos."

"Awwww... but I didn't bring any tacquitos."

Gaz, still playing her game, snarled, "If you have food, hand it over."

Zim glared at GIR, who sighed and unhappily pulled a large bag with the Krazy Taco emblem out of his head. The robot dog held it out, and pleaded, "Can I still have mah taco?"

The green-skinned male narrowed his eyes. "The bag, GIR. Give me the bag."

"Yes, my lord!" The green dog saluted and walked over, handing Zim the bag before returning to his taco.

The day dragged on ina similar manner, all five of them trying different ploys to relieve the boredom. Membrane attempted a board game- after Zim cheated and won, they all agreed on no more board games. Dib suggested card games- Gaz won them all without even once looking away from her GS Lite. GIR wanted to watch the Scary Monkey Show- and ended up watching the "blank channel" for several hours. Gaz offered no ideas, busy playing her video game, while Zim challenged Dib to various staring and breath-holding contests- which Zim won each time.

But they all managed to live through the day. By the time that the light from outside rapidly started to lessen, Gaz's watch read 4:30 pm and they were all out of ideas. Gaz had played her GameSlave all day (obviously) with the occasional switching-of-batteries, GIR watched the blank channel and played with various objects (one of which was Dib's hair, to Gaz and Zim's great amusement), Dib read a variety of magazines and occasionally turned on his laptop, trying to access the Internet (though with no success), Zim mostly sat around and insulted Dib, and Membrane scribbled down ideas to improve the human race.

With the house quickly darkening, many of their previous ideas to relieve the boredom were rendered obsolete, and the battery for Dib's laptop was running low. "Y'know, Dad, what if the pipes freeze?"

Membrane looked up from his notebook. "What's this about frozen pipes?"

Dib scowled. "The power's out. What if the pipes freeze?"

"Do we even still_have_ running water?" Gaz muttered.

The Professor chuckled. "Son, if you're so worried about the pipes being cold, you can do something about it. You're old enough to do that sort of thing."

The dark-haired teen rolled his eyes and grumbled as he stood up and stumbled into the kitchen, tripping over the slight ridge in the floor.

Later that night, around the time when Gaz's watch hit 10, Membrane put his notebook aside and declared, "Time for bed, children- and friend."

Zim glanced up from watching Gaz play and smirked. "Zim needs no bed," he responded haughtily, before the amber-eyed girl beside him shoved him off the couch.

"How many times must I remind you to stop referring to yourself in the third person?" she snapped, as he grumbled and got off the floor.

"Human rules don't apply to Zim," he muttered.

Dib sniggered from his seat near the fireplace, where he was trying to wrap some last-minute gifts. "While you're masquerading as one, they do," he said in response, smirking at the disguised alien.

Membrane sighed. "There_are_ no aliens, son. Just because your friend comes from a foreign culture..."

"Dad! First of all, he's not my friend! Second, no human I've ever heard of has green skin, and if there was one, they'd be famous."

He shook his head. "Son, aliens _do not exist_. Give up the paranormal and try REAL SCIENCE! Just give it a chance."

Dib rolled his eyes and replied, "I tried it- I got bored. I'm going to stick with what I like." With that, the teen stood and walked over to the unlit tree in the corner, and unceremoniously dropped a pile of clumsily-wrapped gifts beneath its branches. As he headed back, he muttered, "Christmas really isn't a true holiday without the lights."

**A/N:: Prepare to be amazed! XD I actually UPDATED for the first time in months :P I lost this fic sometime during December, and only just found it a few days ago. I'm working on the rest of this as fast as I can, since the holidays are over XD Be watching for another update soon.**

**And an apology to the Final Battle people who are awaiting an update- I've had a major creative slump lately and I know that I promised to update during the x-mas break, but I never got around to it, being busy with everything else. I WILL FORCE MYSELF TO WRITE THE NEXT CHAPTER IF I HAVE TO!**

**I'll update eventually- however long it takes, though, isn't up to me to decide :\**


End file.
